Too many artistes are focused on getting deals with major US Record companies who do not understand their music. The Caribbean music business is not as well developed but I do think that Independent is the way to go. Tami Chynn is a recent example of what usually happens to any artiste who is signed to a major label. Caribbean artiste or not.

Few record contracts guarantee the recording of an album and even fewer guarantee the release of that album. Futhermore, the label can bind the artiste for the contract term unless the artiste has a guaranteed release clause which allows an exit option if an album is not released according to music business journals. But Chynn isn't giving up on music and has begun writing new material."What has happened now is that me and my label cannot see eye to eye, so I basically asked for a release so now I am trying to get back to the music that I love that got me signed in the first place," she said.Chynn claimed that her Chinese-black ethnicity hurt her in an industry where musical genres tend to be race defined. "My label made it very clear to me that they were not sure what to do with me because I was a seemingly white girl who was not white but also Chinese and Black," she said. "An (atypical) Jamaican girl is exactly what made them love me and exactly what made them not know what to do with me. That is why the first album was released in Japan only," she explained.

I recently had a healthy discussion with Simone Harris over @ Silicon Caribe about this same topic. Today's technology level the playing field in many ways. Sophia Brown is an example of a how a artiste can utilize the internet to market their product and build a buzz. The translation into selling singles on itunes can be done if it is targeted. Also, my argument has always been that if you promote a song properly. Touring is the next step. That is where the real money has always been, not in record deals. If I was a artiste, I would rather set up a distribution deal than album deal.